Strangers in Araluen
by The Traveller from Beyond Time
Summary: When two strangers appear in Araluen, claiming to be form an alternate time, Ranger Apprentice Isabella is determined to find out the truth. Meanwhile an old enemy stirs, it has a plan, it has an army, it has a target. It falls to a group of unlikely friends to save Araluen. Words are mine, RA belongs to John Flanagan and Halo to Microsoft. Rated T for Violence and Battles.
1. Prologue

**Hey all, Nikhi here, this mentions Halo at the start but it isn't a crossover because it is only referenced, the Halo Universe isn't brought back into the story after my Halo OC's are introduced.**

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><p>Prologue:<p>

Alarms sounded. Screams echoed. Glass broken. Lives lost. Worlds glassed. The Covenant. They were the unstoppable force bent on humanities destruction, and now they had found her, Earth. The defence was strong, but the Covenant was endless, they hammered, bombed, and devastated colonies. Now they were here, at our last bastion. They came in waves, attacking the UNSC Dalton (part of the defence fleet of Earth), first Grunts and Jackles, then Elites, and finally two Hunters.

There was the sound of lightning as a plasma grenade detonated, splashing molten plasma around the room. The green figure was a blur as it rolled with blinding speed out of the way. Small droplets of cooling plasma slid harmlessly off its shimmering energy shield. Straightening, the figure swept its weapon up, a smooth, liquid motion. The figure's weapon coughed and the Grunt flipped backwards, taking the rounds in the chest. A voice crackled through the figure's helmet speakers;

"Everyone fall back, we are being overrun, I repeat, we are being overrun." The voice ordered. Another voice came through the speakers.

"Spartans leave the search, we have to bug out, ships reactor is going critical." The figure's HUD winked as blue acknowledgement lights came on. The figure chinned its own acknowledgement button and turned to leave.

"Spartan Nik reporting, I found nothing." The figure reported, "I think-," He never got to finish. A large shape had just appeared and hit him. The blow felt like a sledgehammer and his shield drained to half. He knew what it was before he saw the glinting black armour. The Elite roared, his jaws open in a snarl.

Bringing his MA5B Assault Rifle up, he jammed the trigger down. The bullet never left the chamber as a bright blue light sliced the gun in half, barely missing his chest. Nik swore, the Elite had almost run him through with an energy sword. Nik glimpsed an object in the Elites grasp, the objective!

"Damn it," Nik muttered as his gun was rent in two, tossing the weapon down, he switched to his SRS99 AM Sniper Rifle. The long range weapon was next to useless in the close quarters, but it was all he had. Firing two shots in a quick succession, Nik aimed for the Elite, but the first missed, the second taking the Elite in the left shoulder.

"Sir, I found what we're looking for," He transmitted. He heard no more as the Elite roared again, and charged him.

Spinning in his iridescent green Mjolnir Mark V Armour, he caught the Elite's charge in his chest. Falling, the Elite dropped the object he was holding. It clattered to the floor and started humming. Nik felt a thrill of uncertainty, not fear, Spartans didn't feel fear, but the device was Forerunner. An ancient race of technologically advanced aliens who constructed the Halo Array, a set of Ring-worlds that when activated, wiped all sentient life in the galaxy, were the Forerunners.

A blue flash shot out of the device, blinding Nik. He felt as though all his cells were being ripped apart, torn down to its basic atoms, then reassembled, only to be torn asunder again. The guttural scream he heard showed him that the Elite was experiencing the same feeling. He almost felt sorry for his enemy, _almost_. A final blast of pain and feeling as though he wasn't whole and Spartan 285's world went dark. When ONI Investigation teams went looking for the missing Spartan and the artefact he was after, all they would find is a blackened corridor.

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><p>Dusk sunlight streamed through the trees on a pleasant, Midsummers day in Cordom Fief and the people were happy. A dark green cloaked figure sat stock still as she observed the scenery. Something was amiss, the figure could sense it, she didn't know how she could sense it, but she could. There was no doubt this was because of her limited Ranger training. Hailing from Cordom Fief, the figure had been chosen to join the mystical Ranger Corps. She hadn't been formally recognised as an apprentice yet, but she had been training for 3 months now.<p>

The figure heard a snap, and the treetops came alive with noise. Birds started streaming from the trees, and woodland animals were running in terror. Approaching the forest, the green hooded-cloaked figure made her way through the edge, trying to find the disturbance. The air felt strange, heavy, then light, then heavy again. The figure could feel static dancing around her feet, and the forest was now deserted.

Feeling fear rising in her throat, the figure took a step towards a strange light. The light was humming, a deep, vibrating sound that she could feel in the ground. Taking another step towards the strange light, the humming stopped.

There was the sound of thunder, lightning, and all the anger of the storm as a bright flash of light burst forth from the forest. The smell of burning wood filled her nostrils and she bolted. '_I must get back, I must tell him,'_ she thought desperately as she fled the scene.

Approaching the small cabin by Cordom Keep, the dark green cloaked figure stopped running to catch her breath. Aland, Ranger 37, assigned to Cordom Fief looked up as his apprentice stumbled up the veranda step.

"Isabella, what is wrong?" He asked with concern, seeing the look of panicked fear plastered on her face.

"Aland, there was…something…loud and bright…in the forest….scared everything…I, I-" Isabella choked out.

"It's alright, it's alright, calm down, everything will be fine, you're ok." Aland said softly, holding his apprentice in a light hug, trying to calm her nerves.

"Are you okay, did you see anything?" Aland quizzed her, his Ranger instincts telling him to search for more information. He noticed another tremor rack his young apprentice, she nodded, a slight movement of her head. She swallowed before answering, as though it was a hard admission to make.

"I saw something there, in the woods," Isabella whispered, her eyes full of uncertain fear, round as the full moon, "I saw _someone_ there."

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><p><strong>AN I am Australian so my words are spelled differently that what you American readers know.**

**Catch you on the flip side;**

**~Nikhi**


	2. Headlong Collision

**Hey all Nikhi here, don't forget I just used an entire day writing you this so you better like it!**

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><p>Urgency was thick in the air as Aland rushed out of his cottage. Saddling his horse, he slung his strung special longbow alongside his traditional longbow. Aland was an unusual figure for a Ranger, heavily muscled and built bulkily. He has massive muscles capable of crushing force. But he didn't use any crushing weapons, no; Aland used his muscles for a different reason, his special longbow.<p>

Isabella looked at her massive mentor, taking in how heroic he looked on his horse, slightly larger than normal knives, cowl pulled up, two massive longbows across his back, and his shape shifting in and out of focus.

"Aland, why are you taking your special bow?" Isabella asked curiously, wondering what could have possibly motivated her master to bring such a weapon.

"I just want to be safe, if what you saw is something dangerous, I want to be on the safe side." Aland said gruffly. Not that he would ever tell his apprentice, but he was being cautious for her sake, she was the most promising female apprentice to have come to the Corps.

"Oh ok, I'll take you to where I saw the light." She replied, nodding her head before finishing saddling her horse. Swinging up into the saddle, she took another look at her mentor. He noticed and gave her a reassuring nod, his blue eyes hard, ready for danger. His face has assumed the normal Rangers indifferent look, before riding off on Storm, his dark gray Ranger horse, sandy coloured hair hidden by his cowl.

Smiling to herself, she gently pressed her heels into Ember's side, and her horse easily moved into a light canter to follow the other horse. Ember let out a whinny, _'You forgot my apple."_

Isabella smiled, "I'll give you two when we get back," she murmured. A rumble shook through her horse as he acknowledged her words. _"I'll hold you to that."_

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><p>Spartan 285 sat up with a deep, ragged breath tearing through his lungs. Franticly looking around, he notices the Forerunner device; it was broken, cut in half by a sharp object. There was an Elite shaped impression in the ground next to him, but there was no body.<p>

Getting up, Nik took in his surroundings; he was in a forest, with blackened area around him. He heard a crack behind him and his motion tracker pinged an enemy. Turning faster than humanly possible, the Spartan dropped into a crouch, sniper at the ready, eye down the right, gazing into the trees.

The Elite of course, was invisible, well, almost invisible. His shape was barely visible as his suit tried to bend light around him. He took a step forward, cautiously, as he saw the Demon notice him.

Nik saw the slight shimmering marking a Covenant cloaking shield and fired at the centre of it. Given the position the Elite was crouching, with his side presented to the Spartan, the bullet wasn't effective. Punching through the Elite's energy shield, the bullet missed his body, but tore through his leg.

Howling with pain and rage, the Elite charged, camouflage field disengaging. Nik tried to fire again, but his weapon jammed, something could be heard breaking. Knowing that it wouldn't fire again, he swung it like a club. The butt of the sniper caught the Elite in the side of the head, dropping him to the ground.

There was a flash as the Elite's shields recharged, then another as the Elite scissored Nik's legs from under him, contact between the two shields producing the flash. Nik went to slam the sniper down again but the Elite caught it, twisting it away from his grip and tossing it into the trees.

Drawing his Combat Knife, Nik slashed at the Elite, referring to hand-to-hand combat to win. He had to be light on his feet, knowing Elites were deadly with their famed Energy Sword. To his surprise, the Elite assumed a traditional Sangheili fighting stance, activating one of his Energy Daggers. Nik knew his chances were slim, the Elite was as strong as him, and almost as fast. The one advantage the Spartan had was his augmented reaction time, which was faster than an Elite's.

Their arms were a blur as they traded blows faster than they normal eye could track, wearing away at each other's shields. Eyes narrowed, Nik put all of his skill into pounding at the Elite's shields while keeping himself focused on not getting hit. The Elite's shields gave way when Nik performed a low sweeping stab. The knife continued, plunging into the Elites side. Growling, the Elite lurched away, Nik's knife embedded in his side.

"Cursssee yooou, Demon." The Elite rasped out, then his eyes rolled in his head and he slumped, unconscious to the ground.

"Better you than me." Nik said raggedly, his muscles exhausted, _'Wait, what, Spartans didn't get tired, let alone exhausted after a small 5 minute fight.'_ Nik shook his head in confusion.

His motion tracker picked up two large objects, moving quickly by the edge of the forest. Crouching, he moved silently through the trees, expecting another enemy, all his nerves ready to react at a moment's notice. That was when he saw the two green cloaked figures.

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><p>Isabella was nervous, just earlier today she had just escaped whatever had disturbed the forest. Aland turned to the forest, his eyes searching, constantly moving, never settling in one place, and taking everything in. Isabella wished she could be as focused as he was, she was always getting distracted.<p>

Not to say she wasn't distracting. With shoulder length dark brown hair, dancing blue eyes, and lightly tanned skin, Isabella had been quite the talk. Upon arriving at Cordom for the first time from the neighbouring fief, Isabella had been stared at by local boys and Battleschool trainees until Aland had discouraged them. Admirers would distract her from her valuable training.

"Aland, can I ask you a question?" She asked her mentor. Like all Rangers, Aland responded by raising his eyes upwards.

"No, you can't," Aland said gruffly, then seeing his apprentice crestfallen, he added with a smile, "Go ahead."

"What are we looking for Aland?" She queried, plying his mentally for answers.

"Anything, we are looking for anything." Aland replied.

Isabella, seeing the conversation had ended, turned her attention to the forest, her keen blue eyes searching for anything. She saw something shifting, something reflecting the glare of the sun. Luckily for the Elite, he fell in a patch of light, his armour glinting.

"Aland, I see something, something in the trees!" She exclaimed excitedly. She saw her mentor freeze, his eyes riveted on an unseen shape.

"So do I." He replied. In the span of a heartbeat, Aland had unslung his normal longbow, nocked and drew an arrow, and pointed it into the trees. "King's Ranger, show yourself!" he declared.

Unslinging her own bow, she placed an arrow on the string, ready to fly on a moment's notice. A rapid movement caught her eye as a shape detached itself from the tree line. Covered in a full body suit of iridescent green armour, the figure had a strange, smooth, flat orange visor that had no places for the user to see out of.

The figure took a step towards them, Aland shouting, "Stop right there, Identify yourself!"

The figure hesitated at the command, and then continued forward faster. Aland loosed an arrow, its murderous arc coming down on the figures chest. Suddenly, 2 inches from the figures chest, the arrow swerved to the side, sailing harmlessly off to the side. Isabella fired, her arrow streaking across the distance between them, but the arrow missed where she had aimed it, instead striking the figures hand. The figure gave a cry of pain as the arrow rebounded like the first.

'_The figure's magic must we weaker at his hands,' _she thought quickly. Before Isabella could nock another arrow, the figure had closed the distance between them. Ember, sensing his master in danger, reared at the figure, flashing his hooves at the green warrior, catching him in the chest.

The figure sprawled as the horse's power pushed him down, but his shields pushed back with just as much force, and the horse fell as well, his rider too. The figure recovered quickly reaching for the rider, a girl as he could now see, who had caused him pain. He almost felt pity for her, as her face was twisted in horror, eyes glazed over with fear. His had never touched her. A shattering impact threw him several feet from the girl, and pain speared through his shoulder, and his vision went dark.

While he had been preoccupied with the Isabella, Aland had unslung his special bow. The bow has been specially made for Aland. Sporting an impossible 220 pound draw weight, at point blank range, the bow could let an arrow loose that would go through 3 men. He had seen the figure shake off the 2 arrows; he knew he had to act. Drawing and nocking an arrow, his heart leapt into his mouth as the figure came closer to his apprentice, if he missed, his apprentice would be dead by his arrow.

Aiming for a gap in the figures green armour, he sighted, and fired in the blink of an eye. Maybe the gods were with him, maybe it was luck, maybe it was skill, but his arrow flew true, striking its mark with deadly force. The figure was thrown several feet by the impact and now lay unmoving in the lush grass, arrow sprouting out of his shoulder. By all rights, the arrow _should _have gone through him, another testament to his strange armour.

"Isabella!" Aland shouted, galloping his horse over to her before dismounting and crouching next to her, "You're gonna be fine, don't worry."

Isabella's mind was still in shock at coming so close to death, she barely felt her mentor rush over to her, calming her down, telling her that she was going to be fine. All she knew was the fear, shock, and embarrassment. She missed, and she was crying, thick tears flowing down her face. She felt Ember butting her shoulder, saying, _'Stop crying, you're embarrassing the both of us!'_ Isabella laughed, wiping away her tears.

"We should get him to the castle; see if we can get his damned armour off." Aland said softly, looking with concern at Isabella.

"Yeah, we should," Isabella agreed with a faint tremor in her voice. Aland's face frowned again at her words. "Honestly, I'm fine, don't worry about me."

Aland nodded at her, and then went to tie the strange armoured figure to his horse for towing. The moment he tried to pick the figures arms up, he couldn't, the armour had gone stiff as a board, and would not move. Aland knew he wasn't dead because he could hear the faint breath coming from the figure's helmet. He'd just have to bring help to him. He told Isabella to ride to Cordom Castle and get physicians. He'd watch the figure.

Isabella nodded once and swung up onto Ember, making sure her horse wasn't injured. Touching her heel lightly into her horse's flank, he shot away like an arrow towards the castle. As she went, Isabella wondered what she had seen in the trees, _'I'll check on what it is when I get back,'_ She told herself, making sure that she didn't forget. With Ember's steady gallop, the wind in her hair, and Ranger cloak billowing around her, It was almost easy to forget the events of the morning.

Clopping into the castle courtyard, she spoke to the guards, "Ranger's Apprentice Isabella, I need your physicians out at the edge of the Cordom Woods with my mentor, ASAP."

The guard nodded abruptly, turning and running to get the physicians, he had gone two steps when he stopped, "Your master; is he hurt?" He asked.

"No," Isabella replied, "But something else is." The guard didn't notice the use of the word something, instead of someone. To be honest, Isabella had no idea if the figure in green armour was human, let alone real.

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><p><strong> AN Please review to share any thoughts you have on this story they are much appreciated.**

**Catch you on the flip side;**

**~Nikhi**


	3. Eyes

The physicians hadn't been able to do anything with the green clad figure, and had left for the castle barely fifteen minutes after arriving. The magic that covered the figure had prevented them from touching or handling the arrow, which had been cut in half by a bright yellow flash. The stump of the arrow remained in the figures shoulder, but was beneath the magic, and unreachable. Two riders came to retrieve him, and began dragging him to Cordom Keep.

This was bad, very bad. He'd been captured by the enemy, and somehow managed to get shot by an arrow. His armour had locked, and now Nik couldn't move. Pain lanced up his side as he was dragged over another rock. He fought down the grunt of pain his body compelled him to make, but he wanted no pity from the riders of the horses dragging him. He was a Spartan, he was trained to deal with pain. As far as he knew, no planets used such weapons, and they were only found in museums now, lost artefacts from a near forgotten age.

The horses stopped, and he felt himself getting lifted, then dropped as the weight of his armour pulled him to the ground.

"Damn, what the blazes is it wearing?" A voice wondered in surprise.

"Who knows," Another voice replied, "maybe it's a forest spirit, that would explain the green."

Nik sensed rather than saw the first man nodding in agreement, "I thinks you may be right." He said. Nik rolled his eyes behind his visor.

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><p>A half day later, and the use of a sled and four horses, they managed to get the downed Spartan in the tower. Aland was in a meeting with the Baron of Cordom, and had sent Isabella to check on the mysterious armoured being. A day later, Aland was still chest deep in meetings, talking about invasions or attacks with the Baron and Battlemaster. Isabella sat alone in the room where the figure was kept, an armed guard outside the door.<p>

It was late in the day, and she had started to doze off, slowly nodding off to sleep. She heard a noise come from the figure, no, a voice, which startled her awake. Cautiously, she approached the figure, listening for the sound again.

"Hey, you, I need some help." Came the voice. Nik could deal with anything, although, everything had to eat and drink, and coming straight from a war, he hadn't had water in three days. Whatever happened, he was confident he could get out, but first, he needed water.

Isabella looked suspiciously at him, "Why should I help you?" she asked, trying her best to keep her voice cold and indifferent. She almost succeeded, but Nik could hear the underlying fear mixed with curiosity in her voice.

"I just need water," came the voice again, "my armour is locked, so I need you to push the button on the back of my suit."

Isabella wasn't entirely sure what a button was, but she guessed it was one of the circular depressions in a row on the back. There were a bunch of small diagrams next to each depression, and remembering the speed at which he moved, she wasn't about to let him escape, so instead, she pressed the one with a rough helmet picture. A flash lit the room as the shields deactivated, and the helmet hissed as its airlocks disengaged.

Isabella pulled Nik's helmet off. The face that greeted her was one she would never forget. Contrary to normal Spartans, Nik's skin was a light tanned colour, it may have been dark at one point, but years out of the sun had lightened it. A straight jaw, with a slightly large nose, a scar that ran across his brow, short black hair, and black eyes, those black eyes. She was surprised at how young he was, barely a year older than herself, but his eyes made him look older, eyes that had seen more death and destruction than anyone in Araluen.

Nik saw her face, and knew he wouldn't forget it, although he had no idea Isabella's mind was running along the same lines. He tried to move, but found he couldn't, that his armour was still locked. He sighed inside, '_Pretty, and also smart, she knew only to release my helmet.'_ He couldn't help but feel a little impressed by her quick grasp of his armour systems.

At least the shield was down, and he could drink and get something done about his shoulder. He watched was Isabella turned away from him, going to the door and speaking to the guard quietly. She moved back to him, "A physician will be here shortly to patch up your shoulder, also some water." She said.

Isabella smiled to herself as she turned away from him, a host of confusing emotions arising from that one encounter. '_I will inform Aland once his shoulder is fixed up, then maybe we'll get some answers.'_ She touched her saxe at her waist, taking a comfort in the hardness of the weapon, the coolness of the brass pommel.

She resumed her position at the wall, and just stared at him. Nik could see her eyes calculating and assessing, analysing his features, armour, and expressions. He nodded his thanks and returned his gaze to the ceiling. Then a thought flashed through his mind, and if he could have sat up, he would have, mentally, he slapped himself. Where was the Elite?

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><p>Tan'Kyi was in pain, a great deal of pain. The wounds the Demon caused him burned with an inner fire. He clicked his jaws together in anger and frustration, '<em>I had the sacred artefact, it was in my grasp, and that demon ripped it away.'<em> Looking around, he located his med-kit, which had fallen from his waist. Quickly stitching up his injuries, he retrieved his cloaking unit. He was relieved to see that it was mostly intact. Grabbing his energy sword, he set off, trying to find out where the Demon had gone. He was in an unfamiliar place, and somehow the Spartan brought him, and he would pay for it.

Memories flashed through his mind of the battle he had been fighting. Ghosting through the ship with an inhuman speed and grace, Tan'Kyi had known that the humans had uncovered a trove of Forerunner tech. One item in particular was sacred, and he had been tasked to collect it. He had almost succeeded, he could taste the victory, see the promotion, but that meddling Demon arrived at just the right time, and the victory turned sour in his mouth.

Activating his cloaking shield, the Elite faded from view, becoming a slight shimmer in the summer sun. His HUD showed him the electric discharge trail left by the Spartan's shields, and began following them up to the castle. It was time for the Demon to die.

**A/N I hope you all enjoyed that chapter, I'm sorry I took so long to update, and that it's a short chapter, but give me your opinions, I want to hear them all. **

**Remember to smash that Favourite/Follow button, and I'll catch you on the flip side!**


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